Two Masters and the Mildew Mystery

Which master do you serve? For the longest time I thought that there was some tally chart somewhere keeping track of which master (God or mammon) that I have served overall. Being a perfectionist, and also aware of my imperfection, that always freaked me out a little bit. I was sure that when the scriptures say that a person can't serve 2 masters that I was coming out way too much on the mammon side. Not because I was TRYING, but because I am human and therefore make a lot of mistakes. At some point the Lord decided to take pity on me, and when I read the scripture again, "You cannot serve two masters..." the Lord supplied the thought, "in any given moment." It seems like such a basic thought, and yet it relieved all of my fears about that tally chart and instead allowed me to focus on my agency. I can't serve two masters AT A TIME, but I do get to choose which master I serve with every choice that I make. I may not always make the right choice, but I can make the correct choice in my next decision! So if any of you are nervous about which master you serve, just remember that we can choose each moment who our master is.

So now you know why "Two Masters" is in the title, now onto mildew! We have lived in Cedar City for 3 months now, and in that time we had not gone to the temple. So our temple bags sat in the trunk of my car until this past Thursday. We made an adventure out of the evening. We went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse and ate WAY too much food. Then we made our way to the temple to do sealings. As I pulled out my slip I thought, "This is kind of wet" then decided I was crazy and it was just cold. After I pulled out my dress I realized that my slip very likely WAS wet because my dress, and everything else in my bag smelled strongly of mildew. I changed anyway and met my friend who smelled the mildew, it struck me then that Trav's clothes probably stank too because they were sitting right with mine in the trunk of my car. I asked him as soon as we found him...Of all the weird things, his clothes are stink free! I do not think I have ever been so distracted in the temple! I had the compulsion to apologize to everyone that rode in the elevator with us. I also felt like I needed to walk really slowly to minimize any movement of air I might be making. With every inhale I was reminded of my stench. Trav, of course, thought it was hilarious and kept on pinching his nose when no one was looking, further adding to my paranoia. Needless to say, I was relieved to change back into my other clothes.

After we left the temple we went to Trav's brother and sister in law, and it cracked me up when she was worried about her smell when I hugged her. She smelled fine, but even if she hadn't, everything smelled fresh to me after that mildew! When we got home I investigated my trunk, which was dry, but does smell like mildew. The mystery is...why!? How did my clothes get wet? How did Trav's stay dry? Why does the blanket in there not smell like mildew either? I don't know if I will ever figure that out, but unless/until we do, I think my clothes won't be spending any more quality time in my trunk!